n Softball opens the season in Texas ...

DesaRae Woolsey, Fox, and Leslie.

Medina loves what the pitchers along with the other players are bringing to the team.

“We have DesaRae Woolsey, Caley Leslie and Avery Fox and they all bring very different talents to the circle but complement each other very well,” Medina said. “I don’t think any of them are very similar and they all throw a different amount of pitches. They communicate really well and our catchers do a great job of calling for them and filling them with that confidence that is essential in the circle. They are a fun group to work with.”

The catchers on the team will be DemiRae Woolsey, Dustin, and Lewis.

The hardest thing the softball team had to deal with is the weather. The team hasn’t been able to practice on actual dirt and grass, but they have been finding ways to get practice time in.

“Well we haven’t been able to get outside at all this semester, we will do defensive drill work in the spaces that are available to us but nothing can simulate dirt and grass and getting to take live reps,” Medina said. “I will say that we have done a great job as a team of not allowing that to be an excuse or something to tamper with our confidence. We talk about controlling the controllables and doing the best with what we have to get 1% better than the day before, no matter the circumstances.”

Cronquist said that this team has a goal in mind and that is to capture a Region IX title.

“We want to win Region IX,” she said. “To do that we need to keep working hard as a team and keep getting better every day.”

Medina added it is vital that they work together as a unit to get the job done.

“The biggest key for us is to just work together as a cohesive unit and have everyone own their role and knowing that role is going to change game to game,” she said. “This group has a really good bond when it comes to how they interact on and off the field. We have good team chemistry and I think if we keep that at the forefront of what we are doing that can help make us very successful.”

WNCC will face several ranked teams throughout the year including the opening weekend when they battle with Odessa, who is pre-season ranked third in the country after a 45-3 regular season a year ago.

Over spring break, the Cougars will also face pre-season ranked San Jacincto, who is No. 20.

Cronquist said they will enter the games focusing on themselves and they are not going to underestimate any team.

“We never underestimate the other teams,” she said. “We know how good we are and we just want to play our best.”

And, to win a regional title, it is going to take communication.

“We need to communicate and work through the hard situations,” Cronquist said.

For Medina, she is proud of how this team has prepared for the coming season.

“This group has grinded since the day that they stepped on campus in the fall and we have worked hard physically at the game of softball but also on the mental side of the game, in the class room, at 6 a.m. conditioning and in the weight room, so I’m very excited to see what they can do this spring,” she said. “We have a great support system in our community, in our instructors that understand the struggles of being an outside sport in spring and helping to accommodate the girls with class work while on the road, our dorm families and everything in between. We are very lucky to have the support that we have, when the snow melts, we cannot wait to see everyone at the